Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Well I do have internet access! It's dialup, so no photos or fancy bits with this post, but at least I can pop in and blog and let you all know what I've been up to.

Arrived in Wisconsin yesterday, but I guess I need to share a little about what I did in my last couple of days in Chicago.

Saturday was the big day that we did anything. Missy and I caught a very early train into downtown Chicago to spend the day sightseeing and such. We walked from Union Station, along Jackson Street and saw Sears Tower (yes, it is very tall), and then walked up to Michigan Street. Walked along Michigan Street and past Milennium Park (got our first glimpse of "The Bean") and stopped off at the Chicago Cultural Centre to get some information about what we could do and see. Then continued up Michigan Street all the way to the Water Tower before walking back to The Bean to meet Shannon, the daughter of a friend of mine back in Brisbane who is nannying in Chicago at the moment. Gave her the bottle of rum that I lumped all the way from Brisbane and we then went to lunch at Bennigans, which I have to say was disappointing. The food was nice, but the service was CRAP. And the table and cutlery not clean. I certainly wasn't generous with a tip there!

After lunch Missy and I hiked it back to Union Station just in time to catch the train back to Aurora so we could go to church. She took me to her church "The Orchard" and I quite enjoyed the service, got a lot out of it and it suited my values and beliefs well. I like the idea of having coffee in a church too!

Then we all went to Olive Garden for dinner for Stephanie's birthday. Missy, Stephanie, myself and a bunch of their cousins. Great food at Olive Garden, and the first place I've seen a fairly strong wine list.

Sunday morning it was up to finish packing and then Missy, Danny and their young neighbour Carlos (14) caught the train into downtown Chicago with me to catch my bus to Wisconsin. Had a bite to eat at Union Station and then on my bus it was.

The trip to Madison from Chicago took three hours, and was quite pleasant. Comfortable bus, I slept more than half the way. One thing I noticed was the instant we crossed into Wisconsin, the landscape changed to this lovely picturebook farming land. All red or white barns like you imagine them from movies or story books, rolling green hills and cows or fields of wheat/corn. Very pretty.

Arrived safe and saound in Madison to be picked up by Cindy, who took me on a brief tour of the city before bringing me back to her home, where we freshened up before going to dinner at Cheeseburgers in Paradise, a chain of restaurants started by Jimmy Buffet. Very tasty, nice atmosphere too. Then we came home and watched some telly before I crashed out for the night. All in all a pleasant start to my stay in Wisconsin!